Thankful for some Distraction

Saturday morning was a tough morning for us- obviously because we lost Rocky that morning, but also because we had made plans to go to the country side with some friends, and we could NOT cancel.

Scott took Rocky to be put down at 8:00, and then we had to be out the door at 9:30- not much time for grieving. I dragged my feet down the stairs to meet them at the car, and kept my sunglasses on to hide my wet eyes. Scott and I agreed not to tell our friends about Rocky because we didn't want the day to be spoiled for our friends.

Thankfully, Dina and her husband Mr. Niu are probably our best friends here, so if there was any one we HAD to be with, it would be them. We can chat or sing or just be quiet with each other- and they have a 7 year old son, Tidy, who is a riot. When we finally arrived in the country side, my eyes had dried and it became easier and easier to put Rocky from my mind.

The place we went was a county of Boone, about 45 minutes away. We didn't know much about where we were going because Dina and Mr. Niu don't speak any English- all we understood was that we were going to look at a waterfall.... turns out, it was much, much more than just a waterfall.

We began hiking up the mountain, and at every turn there was a different waterfall. The beauty was certainly distracting! But that wasn't all...

We were told to bring our bathing suits- and here's why:

That's right- Rock Surfing!!!
This particular waterfall ran over a smooth rock that was not too steep and, like a slip-n-slide, ends in a pool with a big splash. The left side of the rock was smooth and straight, and that's where most people chose to slide down. The middle/ right side was for the dare-devils. It was bumpy and the water flowed much quicker- at one point there is a large bump that if you hit just right, you get air-born... but that landing is definitely NOT worth it :-(

Here is a video-- thankfully they had little body boards to sit on.

We decided two hours into our play-time that this was the best thing we could have done that day. The only problem was the distraction had to end some time. At dinner, Dina said we should go back home so we could feed Rocky- so of course we told them what happened, and of course I cried. It felt good to show a vulnerable side to our friends, and be able to finally talk about Rocky... things like that strengthen the relationship and open up new venues. Tidy was sad to hear that Rocky died. A while back I had taught Tidy how to say some things to Rocky: "Come!", "No", "Off!" and "Good Boy" and Tidy loved it when Rocky responded to him! When he came over to play you'd hear "No, Rocky Nooo!" (Rocky had chased down his match box car) and then "Good booooooy" (Rocky had given up the car)

Here are a few more pictures:

Those are Scott legs- he ended up with his legs flying over him when he hit the pool

And that's me landing in the pool. I turned half way and ended up like this:

What a great way to get our minds off of Rocky! Praise the Lord for God-made slip-n-slides!!!